Motion-activated controls come to Android

Posted June 8, 2010 - 21:54
by
Mike Luttrell

Motion controls aren't just for the home console market anymore. Android users will soon be able to play games, perform phone tasks, and even get their own fortune cookies with nothing more than a few flicks of the hands.

Talk Android reports that Eyesight Mobile Technologies, a start-up based in Israel, is bringing its flagship mobile motion-recognition technology to Android. The company already offers apps on Nokia's Symbian platform, and is making the jump to Google's mobile OS. The technology incorporates the phone's camera to detect motion gestures, like swiping a hand in front of the device.

Eyesight has two platforms: Eyeplay, a platform for mobile games, and Eyecan, an infrastructure for performing mobile phone commands with motion-based gestures.

Some of the apps available now include a motion-controlled MP3 player, a simplistic app that gives users a virtual fortune cookie whenever they reach out their hand, and an app that lets users silence or ignore calls with the wave of a hand.

Eyesight claims that its apps do not drain the phone's battery to a huge extent, and CPU processing power is minimal. If the Wii, Playstation Move, and Project Natal have taught us anything, it's that motion controls are the way of the future.